Convenient Economics: The Incorporation and Implications of Convenience in Market Equilibrium Analysis

Convenience is perhaps the most important “commodity” being sold in the market today, and yet there is nothing of analytical substance to be found in most undergraduate textbooks. The purpose of this article is to provide a straightforward framework for teaching students the economics of convenience, utilizing the standard tools of introductory and intermediate microeconomics. The framework is used to answer several questions related to convenience that could not be answered with the typical supply and demand framework found in undergraduate textbooks. The key analytical features of the article are provided in a complementary PowerPoint file in the online supplementary appendix.